Following President Donald Trump’s claims that he signed an executive order to prevent the separation of migrant children from their parents, Melania Trump toured a Texas detainment center for migrant children.
CNBC reports that Melania visited the Upbring New Hope Children’s Shelter in McAllen earlier today. Amid the ongoing controversies surrounding the children and toddler detainment centers, CNBC notes that Melania’s visit to one of the shelters was reportedly her decision. Stephanie Grisham, Melania’s communications director, tells NBC News that the visit was “100 percent her idea. She absolutely wanted to come.”
Grisham continued, “She’s seen the images. She’s heard the recordings. She was on top of the situation before any of that came out. She was concerned about it.” Despite Melania’s seemingly genuine concern for the well-being of these migrant children, some people have criticized the first lady for her apparent apathy toward the situation. Particularly as a lack of sensitivity was communicated through her sartorial choices during the visit.
Stephanie Grisham, spokeswoman for @FLOTUS, says “there was no hidden message” in the first lady’s “I really don’t care, do u?” jacket. https://t.co/SbtRtIFYjM
— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) June 21, 2018
During Melania’s intentional visit, the Daily Mail claims that she also wore a jacket with a conspicuous message written on the back. According to CNN’s Jim Acosta a spokesperson for Melania said that the message on the back of the jacket reads, “I REALLY DON’T CARE, DO U?” However, the spokesperson hopes that individuals will look beyond the first lady’s outerwear and focus on her visit to the detention center.
USA Today notes that during the visit, Melania answered press question and also had some of her own inquiries about the facility. One of her initial questions was how many opportunities the detained children had to speak to their parents and families, USA Today adds.
In her formal statement to the press, Melania said, “I’m here to learn about [the] facility to which I know you housed children on a long-term basis. And I also like to ask you how I can help to these children reunite with their families as quickly as possible.”
While we hope that Melania and any impassioned person and organizations do ensure these children safely return to their legal guardians, we hope her visit to a long-term detention center doesn’t foreshadow the longevity of this critical issue. (Because the quicker these children are reunited with their families and subsequently released from custody entirely, the quicker these children can recoup their mental health.)
According to The Washington Post, the detainment center Melania visited is run by Lutheran Social Services, a non-profit organization. The center houses unaccompanied minors, specifically 12-years-old and older, who traveled to the border without any legal guardians.
Though Melania might be invested in securing the safety of separated migrant children, the long-term housing facility she toured doesn’t house any of the children would have been deliberately separated from their parents. Hopefully, this introductory visit will lead to future visits and thorough inspections of the actual detainment centers that house separated children.